We have been in the Philippines 1 week and 3 years, and it is like we never left! Richard is a pro driving these crazy streets in Manila! Everything is coming back to us, and we love it!
Where to begin, as you know we arrived Monday night, and it has been a whirl wind every since! We have met some wonderful people that work in the area office! All of them being Filipino, except the 11 couples that work in this area! With the Filipino workers they speak their language, unless they are talking to you, or answering our questions! We ask a question, they speak about it in Tagalog, and then answer us in English! That has brought back all the memories of this beautiful language, that sometimes bugs me a little! Ha!
The 11 couples that work in this area are wonderful, and a couple have taken us out to eat to show us around! They have been so kind and patient with us, and so helpful!
We are adjusting to our temporary apartment, and almost liking it, except for the neon billboard that shines every night, and the loud music they play! We are so tired that it doesn't prevent us from falling asleep tho-. Friday, we went with a Realtor to find another apartment, that was an experience! The apartments were not presentable, and it amazes me that if you want to rent a furnished apartment, you have it in tip top shape! Anyway we think we found one! We are going again today to see it, there are people living in it, and it was quite cozy, small, no hot water in the kitchen, a washing machine, but no dryer, so all clothes need to hang out to dry! It was very clean, and was on the 30th floor of a high rise! We will update you on that! It wont be ready until March 15!
Thursday Elder Bowen called us in his office and ask me to be over the CLS in the Philippines! CLS means Companionship Language Study! It is a course given to the local missionaries to help them learn English, It is offered to them free, and they get a certificate after they have finished 2 books and taken the tests! This certificate is something they can show in the workforce, and can get them much better paying jobs if they know English! They get the 1st Study book at the MTC, and then I am to answer any questions and follow up with the mission moms, and encourage them to get the CLS course completed! The course normally is very expensive, but is offered by the church to help the Filipino's get better jobs! I do have a testimony of it, so I hope I can do what is expected of me! I just got some of the books today, and will start reading through them!
Friday night we were invited by the Area Presidency to Elder Arderns home for dinner! It was wonderful, Elder Bowen, and Elder Echo-hawk! Of course we know the Bowens, so it was so fun to see Lynette, and be with all the Presidency, and the food was delicious! The Ardens are from New Zealand, so they think Julia is pretty blessed to serve there!
Sat. we tried to get our apartment a little livable, moving suitcases off the couches, cleaning off the kitchen table, cleaning the bathrooms, and doing the wash! Our washer works great, and then everything hangs to dry! Richard found a dust mop to dust the floor, and the handle kept sliding down as it pushed along! We got a good laugh out of it!( Travis, I am going to use some of my washy tape, to keep the handle up next time!)
We had a couple pick us up to show us the way to Church on Sunday! Church was so wonderful, we heard some of the best testimonies from humble sweet people, and we saw so many people that knew us, missionaries, people from our mission area that remembered us, one of the mission presidents that served with us! A young lady that is engaged to one of our missionaries, they just kept coming up and identifying themselves! It was great! The rest of the day was quite relaxing, we studied, rested, I fixed a funny lunch of food we had in the apartment! It was a good day!
This morning we were at the office at 6:30 ready to get to work, I went to a devotional, and then over to the temple to fold clothes! We had to put on white clothes, and it was so good to be there. The Temple is closed for 2 weeks now, so they were cleaning and working on it!
It is a birthday of one of the men in our office, so everyone brought pot luck! The mans favorite food is eggs, so there were hard boiled eggs, scrambled egg sandwiches with honey, egg and asparagus casserole, some lumpia, and of course rice, and it was all cold! No Balute!! We are having a ball, and hope all is well with all of you! We are anxious to hear from our missionaries, Julia and Davis! and we pray for all of you, and love you all!
Hi again, just got back from seeing this apartment again, and we decided on it! We will take pictures when we move in! It is old, but the owners have kept it very clean, and it is also small, probably the whole apt, would fit in the carpet part of our family room! There is no swimming pool for this building, but it seems we get plenty of walking in each day! The couple fly out on March 15 AM, and we will move in that afternoon! I just realize that is a Sunday, but we have to be out of our apt. that day too! Just a matter of moving 4 big suitcases!! Wish you were all here to help!
Can't wait to hear from all of you! Stay happy, We love you all!
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